RENSSELAER, IN (Drury Athletics) -- Teddy Simniok led three Panthers in double-figures with 14 points and Drury rolled to a 70-48 Great Lakes Valley Conference basketball victory over Saint Joseph's here on Saturday afternoon.
The Panthers improved to 9-4 overall and 3-2 in the GLVC and snapped a two-game losing streak, while Saint Joseph's fell to 4-7 and 2-2.
Drury built a 27-18 halftime advantage - courtesy of an 11-0 run midway through the first half to grab some breathing room - then outscored the Pumas 43-30 over the final 20 minutes to cruise to the victory.
Brandon Lockhart had 12 points and Cameron Adams added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Panthers, who beat Saint Joseph's 46-38 on the boards. Lockhart and Ian Carter added six rebounds each and Simniok, Alex Hall and Josh Buie had four apiece for DU.
Jon Smith had 12 points to lead the Pumas, who got only 10 points from senior guard Dayvon Sloan, all in the first half. Sloan entered the game averaging 17 points per game, fifth in the GLVC.
The Panthers also matched a season low with 11 turnovers, while forcing 17 by SJC.
Drury made just 24 of 61 shots (39 percent), but also limited the Pumas to 30 percent shooting (17 of 57).
"We didn't shoot the ball well at all, but we did have some efforts on the offensive boards that gave us some extra possessions," Drury coach Steve Hesser said. "Our guys did the work down there, and were fortunate in the first half that (the Pumas) shot it worse than we did.
"We were just able to hang in there ... sometimes you've just got to grind it out, particularly in the Saturday afternoon road games in our league."
Hesser also praised the work of sophomore guard Ben Fisher off the bench, as he scored a career-high seven points (on 3 of 5 shooting), made his only 3-point try and added a steal in his career-high 11 minutes of playing time.
The Panthers return home for GLVC play next weekend, entertaining Illinois-Springfield on Thursday evening before hosting Quincy on Saturday afternoon, the latter "Great Southern Throwback Day" at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
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